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Panicking that I've caused my family to ingest hazardous quantities of micro-plastics!! (pic included) Should I deep clean entire kitchen?

53 replies

Perspexacity · 11/01/2025 13:50

I put a dark wash on and when I went to retrieve the clothes from the washing machine, they were covered in what looks like tiny bits of plastic. The bits were mostly on the clothes towards the front of the machine, and all around the rubber seals etc.

In cleaning everything up, I'm scared that fine dust of these particles has gone all over the kitchen and that I've unwittingly exposed the family to inhalation of micro plastics.

I can't think where this has all come from! I don't think I put anything in the wash that I shouldn't have done but equally I didn't put every item in one by one into the machine so maybe something did get put in by accident.

I attach a close up picture of some of it. Does this look like residue from something plastic that's disintegrated??

The bits sort of clump together but when you touch a clump it just as readily disintegrates into fine dust.

Panicking that I've caused my family to ingest hazardous quantities of micro-plastics!! (pic included) Should I deep clean entire kitchen?
Panicking that I've caused my family to ingest hazardous quantities of micro-plastics!! (pic included) Should I deep clean entire kitchen?
Panicking that I've caused my family to ingest hazardous quantities of micro-plastics!! (pic included) Should I deep clean entire kitchen?
OP posts:
Perspexacity · 12/01/2025 19:50

I was using the term "microplastics" as a shorthand for tiny particles/fine dust of synthetic product probably made from not-great-for-health chemical compounds...
I realise that there is such a thing as natural rubber but I'd say most rubbers we encounter in every day life are very unlikely to be natural.
I'm conscious there's a lot of talk about the harmful pollution from car tyres (i.e. rubber particles) so I was thinking about that...how, in terms of "toxic particle" pollution, I've basically done the equivalent of driven 100 cars 50 miles through my kitchen

OP posts:
Cynic17 · 12/01/2025 19:57

It's obviously completely safe, and you don't need to do or clean anything.
But please see your GP for help with your mental health.

Balloonhearts · 12/01/2025 20:07

Thats just lint from the door seal. Do you not clean it out every now and then?

There is no such thing as plastic based rubber. Plastic is plastic. Rubber is rubber. If you are referring to synthetic rubber, this is still not plastic. Completely different materials with different molecular structure.

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